Beyond the Books: David Mazower on Sholem Asch

Sholem Asch and his wife in the 1930s.

To see a slideshow of photos of Asch from the family albums, click here

This interview is part of an ongoing series of interviews with living relatives of Yiddish writers and cultural figures.  Learn more about this series here.

Novelist, essayist, and dramatist Sholem Asch was born in Kutno, Poland in 1880. His subjects ranged from the Chmelnitsky massacres to women’s role in society to the Jewish sweatshop. His most famous play, God of Vengeance, sparked controversy and raised the interest of censors by being set in a brothel and featuring a lesbian relationship. When his later works turned to New Testament themes, Asch was the target of attacks and accusations from all over the Jewish world. Most famously, the Forverts, the New York Yiddish daily newspaper, dropped him from their writing staff.

David Mazower—Yiddish book collector and journalist—sheds light on this important Yiddish literary figure of the twentieth century, who was also his great-grandfather. Mazower shares stories passed down through his grandmother and reflections from his own experience that give a glimpse of Asch beyond the pages.

“Let me shake the hand of history”

Mazower fondly remembers learning about his great grandfather, Sholem Asch, through his grandmother, who was the family-keeper of memorabilia and stories from the writer’s life. He reflects on the wildly different reactions he received in the Yiddish-speaking community of his great-grandfather’s contemporaries and from his own generation, which had little knowledge of Asch.

Visiting Sholem Asch's birthplace in Kutno, Poland

Mazower discusses what it was like to visit his great grandfather’s hometown in Kutno, Poland, elaborating on the remnants of European life and the significance of Jewish memory following World War II.

“He was a hugely dramatic personality.”

Arm-wrestling with a complete stranger and arguing with Marc Chagall-- Mazower gives a glimpse into Asch’s eccentricities through his grandmother’s stories.

Asch's work

Mazower shares his thoughts on which of Sholem Asch’s writings he finds most compelling, emphasizing the ways in which his great grandfather was ahead of his time.  Read the full text of Asch's most famous play Got fun Nekome (God of Vengeance) through our Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library:  http://www.archive.org/details/nybc203692.

 

  

 

March 31, 2011